UPDATED: Driver seriously injured in accident that shuts 103

UPDATE: In an afternoon press release, Vermont State Police have identified the drivers involved in this morning’s crash. The driver of the 2008 Mazda 3 sedan was Kaziah M. White, 26, of Sunapee, N.H. White sustained “massive injury” to his left arm and bilateral femur breaks as well as cuts and bruising” and is listed in critical condition at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.

The driver of the 2018 Kenworth tractor trailer was identified as Eric R. Baker, 41, of Higganum, Conn. Baker was uninjured. Both drivers were wearing seat belts.

A VSP Crash Reconstruction Team studies the site. Click a photo to launch gallery. Photos by Shawn Cunningham

An early morning crash on Rt. 103 in Rockingham closed the road for more than five hours this morning and left two people injured, one seriously.

Emergency responders were called to the scene – just west of the Vermont Country Store – shortly before 6:30 a.m. for a collision between a Mazda sedan and a tractor-trailer carrying logs.

According to VSP Sgt. Dan Martin, the sedan was traveling east and the log truck west and it appears that the two vehicles’ driver’s sides met on the center line of the road.

The cab of the log truck is hauled away by Hillside Towing.

While the car crashed into the guardrail, the truck continued on, spilling its diesel fuel on the highway and coming to rest pointing west in the eastbound lane. According to troopers, the truck driver had no steering after the impact.

The driver of the car was seriously injured and taken to Springfield Hospital where he was stabilized, then taken by ambulance to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Hanover, N.H. The DHART helicopter was grounded because of fog.

Workers sweep up crash debris at the guardrail where the car came to rest.

The truck driver was taken to Springfield Hospital to be evaluated, but did not appear to be seriously injured.

Then for several hours, the Vermont State Police Crash Reconstruction Team and DMV Enforcement measured and photographed the scene and weighed the tractor trailer while workers cleaned up the large debris field and spread sand on the road to clean up the fuel spill.

State Police reopened the road at 12:30 p.m.

More information will be available when police complete their investigation and issue a press release.

In addition to VSP and DMV, the Rockingham Fire Department, Golden Cross Ambulance, Rockingham Highway Department and the Vermont Agency of Transportation responded to the scene.